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Christmas is nearly here and it’s time to eat, drink and be merry… As long as nothing goes to waste.

Christmas is nearly here and it’s time to eat, drink and be merry… As long as nothing goes to waste.

Every December 25th, most of us who celebrate Christmas seem to be issued with an unspoken licence to fill our plate to an almost limitless degree. From Bucks Fizz at breakfast to a chocolate liquor at bedtime, the festivities banish thoughts of calories, scales and waistlines for a few blissful days.However, if you spend most of your year consuming in moderation, the likelihood of actually finishing off all the Christmas food and drink hoard is quite slim. How often have you found yourself guiltily scraping leftover meat into the bin when you simply can’t face another turkey omelette, or chucking away those uneaten chocolates so you can get the January diet underway?Wherever there’s indulgence, there’s inevitably going to waste. But no one’s suggesting that you should switch to gruel for your festive dinner – even though Leicestershire County Council has reportedly advised its residents to serve up no more than six sprouts per person this year. May they be visited by three ghosts by Christmas morning…

Techs fight against waste

Thanks to the food tech heroes who are tackling the wider issue of waste head-on, a number of apps and programmes have emerged in recent years to try and cut down on wasted produce. These include FoodCloud, which acts an intermediary to pass surplus stock from supermarkets, farms and food manufacturers to charities that can make use of it. On a consumer level, the OLIO app was created to help neighbours share leftover food in the local community. So if you find yourself still staring at a mountain of mince pies on New Year’s Day, there might be someone around the corner who’s still got an appetite.The founder of OLIO appeared on The FoodTalk Show in January 2017 – you can listen again here.

What are your thoughts? Get in touch!

If you’re working on a new way of reducing food waste with technology, get in touch with us on hello@foodtalk.co.uk and share your story.

If you want to hear more about food innovators then make sure you check our The Food Talk Show for weekly podcasts. In the meantime, Merry Christmas to you all from The FoodTalk Show team.